One can employ Bose-Einstein condensates to make sonic holes or use techniques for freezing light to make optical ones.
Black holes are probably the most extreme astronomical objects known to man. Nothing, not even light can escape the grip of a gravitational black hole. As a consequence, black holes are separated from the rest of the world by an event horizon. Yet it seems likely that analogues of event horizons can be created in Earthly laboratories in the next future. Here one can test predictions about the quantum physics of event horizons, and in particular Stephen Hawkings celebrated result that horizons radiate. One can employ Bose-Einstein condensates to make sonic holes or use techniques for freezing light to make optical ones. The lecture gives a critical analysis of the two major schemes and attempts to assess whether they are indeed suitable to test Hawkings result unambiguously.
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